Mental health sick days taken by staff at a Merseyside local authority are set to hit an eight year-high, a report has revealed.

A document due to be discussed by Wirral council next week has shown that in the 2017/18 year, each employee will miss an average of 4.7 days due to conditions such as anxiety, depression and dementia.

That’s compared to just 2.82 in 2010/11, and 3.32 in 2011/12.

Mental health charity Mind has described the news as “concerning”.

The council said that during the time in question its workforce reduced by “almost 40%”, but demand for its services continues to rise.

A spokesman said: “This means we have more work, with fewer people to do it – a situation which inevitably places ever greater pressure on our staff, putting public servants under more and more stress as they attempt to deliver services for residents.

“We are absolutely committed to supporting our staff, we have a ‘workplace wellbeing’ programme providing people with tailored support, and doing all we can to provide people with the help they need. We will continue to work with our trade union colleagues to make sure our staff are able to stay well, in work, and delivering the services local people rely on.”

The report, entitled Absence Management, which is to be discussed by the council’s Employment and Appointments Committee on March 6, described combatting sick days as a “priority area” for the council, which has a workforce of more than 3,000.

Wallasey Town Hall (Image: Colin Lane)

It added: “A range of initiatives including a focus on mental health support are in place.

“These activities include targeted approaches for specific areas and universal programmes for all staff with an ethos to support all employees across the organisation.

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“Monitoring and oversight has been further developed to ensure accountability at all organisational levels is in place.”

Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at Mind, said: “It’s concerning to see council workers are experiencing higher levels of stress and needing to take time off for their mental health. It’s not clear whether this is because these issues are on the rise, or more positively staff now feel more comfortable about being open when they need time off due to stress or their mental health.

“All employers should work to create a culture where staff feel able to talk about how they’re feeling, this includes ensuring staff who need to take time off work because of stress are treated the same as those who are taking days off for physical health problems.”

Wirral council leader Cllr Phil Davies

While the report said a higher number of employees had actually called in sick due to abdominal pain (386) and ear, nose and throat complaints (303), mental health (247) was the highest known cause of staff absence.

That was because the average length of time taken off by staff with these conditions was over a month - 33.62 days - compared with the next highest of 15.03 for muscular and skeletal problems, and just 4.76 for abdominal pains. Ear, nose and throat were just 3.27.

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“The Wirral picture is in line with national findings including mental health being a major area of concern for organisations across a range of different sectors. In dealing with these challenges our approach is consistent with how other organisations are also trying to address this; and we are committed to doing so.

“High absence levels affect the performance of services, they cost more to deliver and ultimately it is Wirral residents who are impacted.

“The actions which have been designed are based on the extensive insight and management data we have on these issues. It is clear that while absence figures are higher than we want them to be, we are in line with comparator organisations.”